


Sick Day

by SpyderScully



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, MSR, Sculder, Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-29
Updated: 2014-11-29
Packaged: 2018-02-27 10:02:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2688689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpyderScully/pseuds/SpyderScully
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scully visits a virus-riddled Mulder.</p><p>Response to a Tumblr writing challenge—story must include 1) a vase of dead flowers, 2) a big pack of Post-It notes, and 3) a VHS tape.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sick Day

Scully found it strange to be unlocking the door to Mulder’s apartment and letting herself in, although she had done it four or five times over the past week. She had his permission, it was for good reason that she had been stopping by frequently, but coming to his home seemed so odd and so…familiar.

Familiar. That was the word that ironically felt so foreign. Mulder had given her the spare key to his place around the second-year mark of their partnership, claiming in his usual paranoid, forward-thinking mode, “Just in case, you never know”. Scully had never before had cause to utilize the key, either in a casual or urgent sense, and Mulder had never asked her over in any friendly capacity. Even if he had, she doubted it would have been a comfortable experience for either of them. So the little key had remained in her utility drawer in her desk at home, sitting patiently in all its just-in-case-ness.

But now she was standing in the middle of his kitchen, cradling a grocery bag in her arms as she smiled softly. She had managed to scrub down the sink yesterday afternoon before she had left to head home, and she was still marveling that she had managed to get it as clean as she had considering the state it had been in before. She noticed a glass vase of dead flowers sitting by the (likely) empty bread box next to the microwave, and she made a mental note to throw them out before she left today. It was through her own self indulgence that she found herself cleaning his house through this week, and she knew he’d make some kind of tongue-in-cheek remark - probably about darning his socks - but she couldn’t leave things as they were.

She had just set down the grocery bag on the kitchen table and deposited her coat on a chair when she heard a gargling, wet cough resound from the direction of Mulder’s bedroom. She cringed at the noise as a rasp of “Scully? That you?” followed the expulsion of mucus. She pulled the bag back into her arms before making her way towards the source of Mulder’s voice.

He was half sitting, half lying in bed, his body prone but his sleep-tossed head propped up on the pillow. Several blankets lay on top of the mussed quilt, the floor was littered with soiled tissues, and various bottles of medication, cough syrup and decongestant sat on his bedside table. To her dismay, she could also see papers, books, and files littered about the floor, signaling that despite his illness, he had been working after she had left him the day before. He was grinning sheepishly at her, and he looked pale and was unshaven. She was irritated with herself for finding him unbearably adorable.

"Hey, Doctor Scully," he quipped hoarsely, "Come to see if I’ve been taking all my vitamins?" She chuckled despite herself.

"Sounds like that cough finally broke." She observed, setting the paper sack on the night table, "How are you feeling?"

He let out a throaty burble that sounded suspiciously like “like hell” as she gently pressed her knuckles against his cheek and then rested her palm against his forehead.

"Well, your fever is gone," she stated with pleasure, "Think you’ll be up to a shower? I’ll freshen your bed up for you - and change out of those pajamas."

"I don’t get a sponge bath?" He gurgled, as she helped him sit up in bed, "The attendants in this hospital suck." He stiffly made his way to the bathroom as Scully smirked after him.

Less than fifteen minutes later he was back in a freshly made bed, already looking more human than he had when she first walked in.

"Your color’s looking better," Scully noted as she handed him a dose of Sudafed, "You should be off your back by the end of this weekend." She could see him smiling lecherously at her from behind his glass of water and he started to make a remark before a loud onslaught of mucas-laced coughing overtook him again. Scully made a face of displeasure before reaching out for one of the grocery bag items she had set beside the bed. She pulled out a pen and a packet of Post-Its, tossing them into his lap.

"Here, use those." She said, "I’m afraid of you hacking up a lung and then I’ll be stuck having to spend another week looking after you." Mulder pulled a playful expression but his eyes held a glint of concern. He opened his mouth but Scully silently tapped the shrink-wrapped package still resting between his knees. Obligingly he opened it, uncapping the pen and hurriedly scrawling on the top sheet of the sticky notes pad. He held it up to her for her to look, his expression now expectant.

/Have I really been that bad?/

She smiled warmly despite herself and shook her head.

"No Mulder, you’ve been a model patient. But speaking of bad…"

She turned again, reaching into her goody bag. She noted silently that Mulder’s face looked expectant and vaguely excited now. He really had been a trouper through this horrible flu, she was only grateful she hadn’t caught it so he wouldn’t be suffering through it alone. She felt a surge of sympathetic affection flow through her as she pulled out a VHS tape and held it out to him.

“Nukie??” He squeaked with delight, his face possibly beaming with excitement. It took everything Scully had within her to not laugh at his enthusiasm. She had spotted the movie while doing her shopping for him and had nabbed it on impulse, figuring it was something brainless he could watch.

He had scrawled something else on a new sheet from the pad:

/It’s one of the worst movies ever made - how’d you know I’d like that?/

This time Scully did nothing to hide her amused smile.

"Because I know you, Mulder.” She said honestly, “I’ll get the TV for you and you can watch while I make you lunch, all right? And absolutely no work or you’ll be stuck in bed for an entirely different reason.”

He let out a silent chuckle. In no time Scully had him propped up on pillows and watching the dreadful alien movie while she set about making him some soup. After his lunch she made another examination of his condition before packing things up to leave him to his cough syrup and terrible movie.

She was just about to head off after insisting again that he do no work, when she heard him croak out her name as she began to pass through the doorway of his bedroom. Pulling on her jacket, she made her way back to his bedside and stood before him expectantly.

"Yes, Mulder? What is it?"

He gazed at her for a moment, obviously wanting to say something. Scully didn’t prompt him, only staring back, her hands snuggled patiently in the pockets of her coat. Finally Mulder seemed to reach some kind of conclusion as he clutched for the note pad and pen, hastily scribbling something before showing it to her.

/Thank you./

She smiled at the insistence in both the period he had written and the look on his peaky face. She stepped towards him, slipping the pen out of his slack fingers and bending to add something.

She had meant to write a smiley face, but somehow the message had gotten mixed as it passed from her brain to her right hand, because it came out as a little heart.

He swiveled his hand around to look at her response to his expression of gratitude, and Scully wouldn’t have missed his absolute grin of amusement and joy if she had not hurried out of the room with a flush on her cheeks.


End file.
